Crataegus azarolus l.

A small, very slightly spiny tree up to 30 ft high; young shoots covered with fine down. Leaves wedge-shaped at the base, 11⁄2 to 3 in. long, nearly as wide; obovate to rhomboidal, three- or five-lobed (sometimes almost to the midrib), lobes toothed at the end or sometimes entire; bright green, ultimately nearly glabrous above, downy beneath; stalk 1⁄2 to 1 in. long; stipules deeply toothed, cockscomb-shaped. Flowers white, about 1⁄2 in. across, produced during June in densely flowered corymbs 2 to 3 in. across; stamens twenty; style one or two (rarely three). Fruit up to 3⁄4 or 1 in. diameter, globose, mostly orange or yellow, but varying to whitish or red, apple-like in flavour.

Native of S. Europe, N. Africa and the Near East; cultivated in England in the seventeenth century, but never, I think, very common – most of the trees so-called being either the var. sinaica or C. laciniata. The latter is different in general aspect, its leaves are thinner, and with narrower, deeper lobing as a rule, and the flowers have from three to five styles. The species is cultivated in S.E. Europe for its edible fruits, which vary much in size and colour.